Communication technologies that link electronic devices are well known in the art. Some communication technologies link electronic devices via networks. Examples of such networks include wired computer networks, wireless computer networks, wired telephone networks, wireless telephone networks, and satellite communication networks, among other networks. Within such communication networks, a network infrastructure couples electronic devices to one another. Other communication technologies simply link one electronic device to another electronic device. Examples of these types of links include links between computers and their peripheral devices, links between portable data units and computers, links between video sources (such as cable and satellite set top boxes) and video monitors, and links between audio devices, among other examples. With regard to the computer and peripheral device example, communication links couple the computer to its display, the computer to its printer, the computer to its mouse, and the computer to its keyboard, among links.
Many communication link applications require high data rate throughput with minimal or no error in the data transmitted. Some of these communication links operate in a parallel fashion in which data is carried on a plurality of physical conductors and is clocked in unison with data on other of the conductors. Other of these communication links operate in a serial fashion in which data is carried on a single physical conductor from the first device to the second device in a serial fashion.
One particular type of serial link is a high-speed bit stream serial link. In a high-speed bit stream serial link, data is transmitted from a transmitting device to a receiving device one bit at a time so that, over time, a plurality of bits of data are transferred. An example of such a high-speed bit stream serial link is described generally in the digital visual interface (DVI) standard promulgated by the digital display working group. The DVI standard sets forth a high-speed bit stream serial link that carries display information from a transmitter to a receiver. The transmitter may be contained in a computer, a cable modem set top box, a satellite receiver set top box, or another source of video data while the receiver is typically contained in a monitor that displays visual information that is received on the high data rate bit stream serial link.
The DVI standard describes the operational characteristics of a physical communication path between a transmitter and a receiver that includes a bit clock and at least serial data interface having a plurality of bits stream paths. The bit clock and bits stream paths may operate at frequencies up to 1.6 Gigahertz. At such operating frequencies, bits traveling along the bit stream path(s) are subject to a number of operating conditions that distort the bits as they pass from the transmitter to the receiver. Distortion of bits caused by dispersion along the physical media is generally referred to as inter-symbol interference (ISI). ISI distorts the bits such that extraction of the bits from the bit stream is subject to error. Further, the data bit stream(s) is/are often times not aligned fully with the bit clock. Mis-alignment between a bit stream and its bit clock typically varies over time and is referred to as bit stream jitter. Bit stream jitter often prevents the successful extraction of bits from the bit stream. Whenever bits are not properly extracted by the receiver from the bit stream, visual data is lost. However, bit stream jitter is common. In many operations, bit stream jitter makes it extraordinarily difficult to successfully meet a data rate, e.g., an error rate of 10−9 or less
Heretofore, prior devices have been unsuccessful in overcoming high bit stream jitter and significant ISI. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and associated method for accurately recovering and deserializing a high data rate bit stream even when the high data rate bit stream is subject to considerable jitter and ISI.